Air conditioner compressor costs

[eljainc]

Hello,

Our office has two air conditioning units. The one which is in the basement cools adequately the basement and ground level. The 2nd floor has an air conditioning unit which is failing. We had a repair guy come out here yesterday to basically put a "patch" on the unit to keep the thing running. I forget what it was called, but it was a kit added to the compressor. He said the compressor is failing. How much do these typically cost for a unit which can cool a floor that is about 500 sq feet. It is manufactured by Friedrich Air Conditioning Company and is a model #VEA18K34RTA.

Thanks Mike McWhinney

[udarrell]

If the compressor actually fails it might be more cost-effective to buy a new unit.

- udarrell

[Stormin Mormon]

If it's a window or wall AC, you pitch it out and buy a new AC.

[Walter Cohen]

No, that's an 18,000 btu vertical air conditioning unit made to stand freely in a closet environment. I think it even provides electric heat. BTW..its has a very poor EER measurement (8.7)

Not sure how old the unit is but your best bet might be to call Friedrich directly and ask them, based on the serial number, how old the unit is and what a new compressor might cost. I believe that unit retails for $1800 so you need to decide if the cost of a new compressor and whatever stop-gap measures you've already done would out-weigh, in the long run, the purchase of a newer more efficient (EER) unit.